We previously reported that several hundred myTouch 3G Slide phones were gifted to select T-Mobile employees last week in Las Vegas. These units were handed out early in a joint effort by T-Mobile and HTC so users could test out the phones and provide their feedback before launch. One of our sources was lucky enough to receive this phone and they were nice enough to provide us with a 30 minute virtual hands on.

First off, we are being told the final name for the phone is the myTouch 3G Slide. No launch date has been provided, but it sounds like the device will launch in May. The phones given out are using the final hardware, but the software is still in beta as T-Mobile works with HTC to tweak it.

The following are some quick notes I jotted down during my tour of the phone. No spec sheets were provided with the devices, but we were able to discover most of the major specs.

Display: It is hard to tell from the leaked pictures, but the Slide will feature a larger display than the original MT3G. Our source compared the display with an iPhone 3G S (3.5 in) and said they were the same size. I was unable to determine if the display was AMOLED or not.

Camera: The Slide features a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash and autofocus. This is an improvement over the MT3G which had 3 MP and no flash.

Processor: We don’t know the exact model number, but I did confirm it has a 600 MHz ARM11 processor. This could be the Qualcomm MSM7227 or MSM7627.

Memory: From what we can tell the Slide features the same 512 MB ROM / 512 MB RAM as seen in the HTC Nexus One. The phone should ship with an 8 GB microSD card.

HSPA+: The source claimed the Slide will be used by T-Mobile to promote their HSPA+ network, but I do not think it supports the full HSPA+ speeds. Instead I believe it supports HSPA 7.2 which is compatible with the new HSPA+ network. Qualcomm just started to sample some of their HSPA+ chipsets (MSM8260, MSM8660 and MSM8270), but those have a 1.2 GHz Scorpion processor which is faster than what is used in the Slide.

Battery: 1300 mAh as reported earlier.

Operating system: This was already known, but the Slide has the latest Android 2.1 firmware (still kernel 2.6.29) and HTC’s new Sense UI. All of the latest Sense UI features like Leap are included, but the UI has been tweaked to T-Mobile’s liking. It is the same UI as the leaked Espresso ROM that was revealed earlier this year. Users can select between 5-7 home screens.

Hardware extras: The Slide features a proximity and light sensor. The external speaker is much louder than the original MT3G. An optical trackpad is used in place of the trackball.

Multitouch: The Browser, Gallery, and Maps applications all support pinch zoom.

Live Wallpapers: Sorry, these are not supported. This is not that big a surprise considering the processor is ARM11 based.

Accounts & sync: Since the device is Android 2.1, it supports multi accounts. There were a few new additions not seen on my Nexus One. Flickr is now an integrated account you can sync. There is also the option to sync your T-Mobile account so they can store your photos.

Software extras: Lots of T-Mobile bundled apps like AppPack, My Account, and more. There is a myTouch Music app which is a semi-clone of Pandora. Quick Office is included along with some games like Abduction. None of the bundled apps can be removed at this time. Swype is the default virtual keyboard, but users can switch to the HTC keyboard or a new one called Dragon Dictionary.

Gaming: Our unofficial gaming benchmark for mid-range Android phones has become Raging Thunder 2. The game was designed for high-end phones like the Droid and N1, but the source claims it plays at an acceptable frame rate on the Slide. This is a surprise because we tried the game in our Motorola Devour review (also 600 MHz ARM11) and it was not playable. The additional RAM found in the Slide could be the reason for the performance boost.

Overall impressions: Our source claims they were extremely satisfied with the Slide (and they came from the G1). The phone is slimmer than the G1 which is nice for those considering an upgrade. The performance of the Sense UI was great and no lag was experienced on the home screen. The battery life is typical of any Android phone and got them through the day.

Taylor is the founder of Android and Me. He resides in Dallas and carries the Samsung Galaxy S 4 and HTC One as his daily devices. Ask him a question on Twitter or Google+ and he is likely to respond. | Ethics statement

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Yes great phone great phone. This is probably the closest thing to the real successor to the g1. I heard the processor is really 1.3 ghz but under clocked to 600 mhz so when this get rooted it will be awesome.

I could care less about live wallpapers. As I said once this gets rooted someone can add live wallpaper support if they want too.

I have live wallpapers and I don’t use them. They are fun to look at once in a while, but they’re not all that great. As a Droid user, i would have rather Motorola given extra home screens instead of live wallpapers which is a useless feature. There are extra homescreen apps (the coolest of which is Helix), but they are all glitchy. I would have liked to see something native and stable.

I have an HTC Desire and while the live wallpapers are a nice gimmick I turned them off after a while, they also make the home screen slighly laggy on occasions, barely noticable but its perfect without the live wallpapers.

My senses perk up when a version of this MyTouch 3G has got into a fender edition. This limited edition, features a new sunburst finish inspired by Fender guitars as well as a number of enhancements centered around, not surprisingly, music.Reaction to MyTouch3G Special Edition

I know everyone is painfully curious about this phone, but I hope your source gets caught, fired, and sued. Obviously they don’t know the meaning of the words Non-disclosure agreement. They are not the upstanding T-Mobile employee that TMO thought they were when they invited them to Vegas.

The main thing now people are looking in a smart phone (besides the OS of course) is the specs. T-Mobile probably planned to tell them the specs so people will know that THIS IS A GOOD PHONE and want them to get excited and they can start saving cash to buy this phone. Stop being a party pooper >:|

T-Mobile is not Google. They don’t rely on leaked info to sell their phones. It’s not being a party pooper. Companies take non-disclosure agreements very seriously. Risk, or not. Non-disclosure means NON-disclosure.

Ahhhhhhh!!! I was REALLY hoping for the ARM A8 Cortex processor like on the Droid. That’s what I assumed when I heard 600MHz…
DANGIT!
But I guess it does make sense to use the same one as in the Legend.
Looks like it is the loads of extra RAM that will help with gaming and overall make the phone seem “speedier”…
Don’t ask me why I want this phone so bad.
Especially with an N1 on the way and an Evo in the near future…
It just reminds me so much of my old Sidekick and I’m assuming this is T-Mo’s solution for all those old Hiptop users (as well as G1 users)
NICE! =D

I wish this had a snapdragon or scorpion processor.
It looks like a nice phone that’ll appeal to the sidekick crowd pretty well.
However, I wonder how quickly this thing will become outdated.

It looks like a solid phone, and if it had better internals I’d be on it instantly.
Although, I’m happy with my Nexus running a Sense UI rom.
I can’t wait to see some new videos of Nexus One stuff from you Chris.

Hey Nunya and Nithin, Romdroid is right, it is leaks and people like the “source” that hurt companies by leaking and and all info they leak, you 2 ever hear of something called a competitive advantage???? I seriously hope the “source” is caught and punished. And as far as howard he “darkwing” duck up here, boo hoo, so what you just bought your phone, new phones come out all the time, is technology supposed to stand still for2 years when you specifically buy a phone. If you want the new one, get your phone unlocked, sell it on ebay, and go buy one of the slides when and if they launch!

Alright listen here umm BROSEF . there’s no reason to come here acting like a douchbag . You coulda put that in as a simple comment not put other peoples names in it. You wanna be an asshole keep my name and others out of it.we all got something to say but we don’t have to be dicks about it.

Yes, a keyboard with the space bar between V and B would be completely stupid. 5 row keyboards are so much easier to use. This phone would be way more attractive to G1 and old Sidekick users if it had a 5 row layout.

I went from Sidekick to G1 and would never even consider upgrading until T-Mobile put out a great phone with a 5 row keyboard. I’m on my 3rd G1 replacement (under warranty), and they renew my 1 year warranty each time I get a replacement.. At this rate I’ll be under warranty for life. I’d rather deal with having to trade in my faulty G1 for a new one once in a while than buy a phone with a 3 or 4 row keyboard. I know I’m definitely not the only one feeling this way.

Really this isnt any sort of game changing phone and I see where people are coming from bashing the source and all for tmobiles sake. Lets just be real here though this phone is not like a nexus or incredible here. I get the whole non disclosure and all but people this happens with just about every single phone. A lot of “leaks” are done on purpose by companies as well. Im not condoning this “source” but lets just not crucify the person for letting tmobiles huge secret out. This is a nice successor to the g1 but it should not be tmobiles flagship phone when verizon and sprint have the incredible and evo coming out. This phone just doesnt compare to those at all. Hopefully tmobile has something else up their sleeve.

Finally a positive comment. I thought this thread was gonna turn into a full fledged Douche-a-thon. I have owned a g1 for about 1.5yr (got it the first week) now and this appears to be a good upgrade to it. I probably am gonna stick with the G1 for as long as I can. It’s my baby. I have been enamored with the dev support of which HTCClay’s SuperCSDI remix is the cream on top. I wish I could predict which phone is gonna have the most die hard dev’s. The G1 is the first phone I owned that actually got better as time went on.

I quite like the look and specs of this phone so far. I enjoy the Fender phone I have and think this new mytouch 3g will fill the gap for people who wanted a newer faster g1.

Tmobile is slowly getting there when it comes to phones. Its easy to point at them and be mad they dont have the newest fastest phones. I think that many people don’t understand how this works, the carriers have to pay for the designing and purchasing of the phones they want. The reason the Droid is on Verizon and not Tmobile is Verizon had the money to pay Moto to build the Droid for them, Tmobile did not. Of all the major carriers Tmobile is the smallest and I have to give them props they are trying damn hard to catch up to the other 3.

On the ‘non-disclosure’ bit, where did anyone read that in the article? I did not see one mention of non-disclosure anywhere in this article. You dont think Tmobile knows that every employee that got the phone wont be showing their friends and family it? This is how it works, gets everyone excited and wanting to buy the phone themselves. Before everyone starts crucifying Androidandme’s source lets make sure they committed an offence first.

Its simple if you like the phone, buy it. If you don’t like the phone than don’t buy it.

As far as US coverage maps and age, T-Mobile is the smallest and newest. But as far as overall company, T-Mobile is BY FAR the largest of the major US carriers. T-Mobile is the 8th largest carrier in the world. VZ is 16th and AT&T is 17th. Sprint isn’t in the top 30.

So, T-Mobile is playing the world game, while the others just focus on the US.

You guys are missing the point here. You all should research here and pay attention to the rumors. Over the past few months when have you known a rumor to not be true when it comes to cellphones especially a rumor which has been around since late last year? PAY ATTENTION!! Without me seeming too critical, but there is a reason t-moble hasn’t been releasing many of the top new android phones, its because a REDESIGNED phone IS coming to t-mobile when IT IS released later this year. Google and HTC are already pissed at t-mobile for making this move. (My source-RUMORS) If I were you guys id be saving my money cuz you will want this phone and your current t-mobile SIM cards to put into it.. its gonna be industry changing!!

This phone is going to be a nice mid-range Android device for the masses. It will definitely appeal to the “social network” crowd especially with all the Sense UI integration. For those of us that want higher end we buy higher end. I have my Droid and my wife has her Backflip. She LOVES the Backflip because of Moto-Blur and the social network goodness it offers her. I love my Droid because it is rooted, OC’d and screams pure power. To each his own.

[...] gallery of new screens which were taken from the upcoming myTouch Slide 3G. We already posted some early impressions of T-Mobile’s next phone in the myTouch series, but this is the first time we have gotten a [...]

Folks, stay tuned, I will have the chance to play with this phone later in a few hours. If anyone is in NYC, a tmo rep has this phone already. He is located at 36th street and 8th ave. I will take pics and videos if he is cool with it.